2018 Activities

Disclosed by the "National Team" after Reviewing the Budget Performance in the First Third of 2018

Disclosed by the "National Team" after Reviewing the Budget Performance in the First Third of 2018

The Budget performance analysis in the first third of 2018 by the Civil Society Team for Enhancing Public Budget Transparency showed that the data aesthetics, declared accuracy and ability to reflect the good performance of the government conceals secrets that may be unfair to citizens and do not actually meet the demands and aspirations of the civil society.

These developments appeared when the Council of Ministers reviewed, on 22/5/2018, the financial developments and the public budget performance in the first third of this year, which showed a serious improvement in the budget performance, increasing revenues and reducing expenditures, despite the decline of foreign aid. The financial developments also showed the positive progress made by the government in increasing the developmental spending despite the decline in foreign aid allocated to such spending. These developments reflect the government's tendency to spend on developmental projects and to reduce the running costs, which is a basic requirement that has always been demanded by civil society organizations.

Significant Improvement in the Public Budget Performance in the First Third of the Year, but!

The Government's review of the financial developments and public budget performance in the first third of the year was based on figures and percentages reflecting the noted developments. In this context, the Civil Society Team for Enhancing Public Budget Transparency has developed a paper to review and evaluate the budget performance in the first third of the year, in which the team commended the government's approach to support developmental projects, increase allocations from the state treasury to increase the spending on developmental projects and to reduce dependency on foreign funding for developmental expenditures. However, The Civil Society Team raised reservations on the lack of comprehensiveness of the information provided and the lack of clarity of developmental projects on which the spending has been made. The Team also denounced the continued centralization and non-participatory approach in prioritizing spending, especially that we are still suffering from continuous deficit and limited resources, which must be managed in a way that meets the aspirations and expectations of the Palestinian society without prejudice to the rights of citizens, especially the poor and marginalized groups.


The Revenues of the First Third of 2018 Amounted to 4.3 Billion Shekels

With regard to revenues, the Civil Society Team found that the revenues of the first third of 2018 have amounted to (NIS 4.3) billion, representing 32% of the planned revenues that were estimated at (NIS13.6) billion. These revenues were collected from local revenues amounting to (NIS1.7) billion and the clearance revenues amounting to (NIS 2.6) billion. This achievement reflects the good performance of the government in increasing domestic revenues, noting that citizens and merchants usually pay various taxes at the beginning of the year to benefit from discounts and offers, and therefore tax revenues in the first three months of the year are higher.

Expenses Decreased, but!

The Civil Society Team’s report on budget performance in the first third of this year has reflected that the total expenditure and net lending for 2018 were estimated at (NIS16.1) billion, and therefore the expenditures of the first third of the year were estimated at (NIS 5.3) billion. The realized total public expenditure and net lending of the first third of the year were amounted to (NIS 4.8) billion, which is less than the estimated sum for the first third of the year by 11%, reflecting an improvement in government performance and control of expenditures.

The analysis of declared figures has shown that the picture is not visible in all aspects as the analysis of the expenditure structure indicates that the decrease in the total expenditure is due to reducing of the bill of wages resulting mainly from reducing the number of employees by superannuating about 24 thousand employees to retirement. The reduction in the bill of wages appears through reviewing the estimated bill of salaries and wages  for 2018 which is lower by (NIS 200) million shekels than the estimated for 2017  as well as reviewing the salaries and wages realized in the first third of the year which is lower by (NIS 424) million than the estimated for the first third of the year.

Although superannuating the employees to retirement was during the year 2017, the estimate bill of salaries and wages of 2018 was higher than the actual bill because one of the Ministry of Finance's priorities is to ensure the salaries, and therefore the bill is estimated higher in order to ensure its payment. This explains the low bill for the first third of the year.

The analysis of the running costs realized in the first third of the year is close to the estimated expenditures for the same period. However, if there is a trend towards expenditure rationalization, it should be reflected in the running costs estimated for 2018 at (NIS 2,086) million, slightly higher than the estimated in 2017 which amounted to (NIS 2,035). The running costs over the past four years were higher than estimated, despite the government's announcement that it aims to rationalize expenditures, which indicates that the realized running costs by the end of the year may exceed the estimated amount.
Thus, rationalization of expenditure was not real and it was not a rationalization of consumable expenditures that could be dispensed, such as vehicle purchase and the high travel cost, but it was at the expense of employees who were superannuated to early retirement and deprived from the value of their work.

Reducing the Deficit … An Expected Outcome

The Civil Society Tam’s report showed that reducing the deficit during the first third of the year is something normal as a result of the reduction in expenditures and the realization of projected revenues. The total deficit of 2018 was estimated at (NIS 4,584) million provided that part of this deficit should be paid through grants and financial assistance estimated at (NIS 2,790) million. The total deficit during the first third of the year has amounted to approximately (NIS 362) million, which is less than the estimated for the first third of the year despite the decline in the expected foreign funding as the realized funding did not exceed 16% of the estimated funding for the entire year.

Rights of Poor and Marginalized First

The Civil Society Team for Enhancing Public Budget Transparency, which joins 37 civil society organizations and competent experts, with AMAN Coalition as its Secretariat, is still insisting on protecting the rights of the poor people and  increasing the allocations of the Ministry of Development to them. The data the Ministry of Development indicate that there has been a significant decline in the budget of cash assistance program, which amounted to  (NIS 520) million in 2017 while the budget allocated for previous years was (NIS 560) million. Thus, the number of beneficiary families has been reduced from (120,000) families to (112,000) families although the value of cash assistance is ranging between (NIS 750-1800) per 3 months, i.e. maximum (NIS 600) per family per month, which is a small amount that does not meet the needs of poor families.

The Team also stresses the importance of developing the Ministry of Health services to reduce the bill of external medical treatment and to move forward towards ratifying the compulsory comprehensive health insurance regulation. This step will contribute to the development of government health services and localization of services.
The Civil Society Team, furthermore, calls for reducing the bill of salaries and wages, particularly for senior positions in a fair and transparent manner leaving no possibility of biases based on political corruption, political tit for tat measures, Political class exploitation of powers and responsibilities conferred to it by the law for partisan purposes or concluding political disputes due to the power struggle away from public interest. The Team also called for finding practical solutions to the rotation of employees, with a review of their remunerations and privileges.

The Civil Society Team stresses that it is necessary to review the expenditures on the security sector, control them and reduce the expenditures of this sector. The security sector continues to consume the largest share of the budget by 27%, while the numbers of the poor are increasing.  The data of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics show that the percentage of poverty has increased in 2017 compared to 2011. The percentage of the poor in 2011 was about 25.8%, while it increased to 29.2% in 2017, an increase by 13.2%. The percentage of extreme poverty has also increased from 12.9% in 2011 to 16.8% in 2017, marking an increase amounting to 30.2% meanwhile the allocations to the Ministry of Development and the number of beneficiary families are declining.

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